I've never told my players how many HP an opponent has left in battle, and though we use Roll20 I also turn off the red health bars for HP. It also bugs me a LOT when players tell each other how many HP they have left during a battle.
So lately I've started using a descriptive scale based on how hospitals classify patients. During combat I'll let the players know how their opponents appear using that descriptive scale, and they can choose their actions/targets accordingly, without having too much info. Since we use Roll20 I can also tag opponent tokens with colours, if I feel like it, corresponding to each level.
LEVELS OF INJURY CONDITION
Good/Undamaged (Full to only minor wounds)
Moderately Wounded (Roughly one quarter total HP)
Bloodied (Roughly Half total HP)
Seriously/Severely Wounded (1/3 to ¼ total HP)
Critically Wounded (Death may be imminent)
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You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
I feel the same way about sharing HP -- I don't tell them the monsters HP ever, and before we began playing our first session I asked my group not to directly share HP as I didn't like the concept, though I don't really enforce it (they do from time to time, I usually don't say anything unless it happens a little too often). I too play on Roll20 and we use the health bars for the players so that they can "see" how healthy each other are without the raw numbers, but they can't with the opponents (they can however ask at any time how an opponent looks and I'll give what I feel is a pretty good description so they can guess as to his state vs 100%). To me that kind of seems odd/unfair so I might change it and show the health bar for everyone, but it will be up for discussion between us.
The problem is using a specific scale like this, I feel like describing the monsters gets tiresome/super repetitive during combat. If I used a scale like this (which I tried for a bit), and gave it to my players I'd feel obligated to stick to it, and suddenly every monster is "bloodied" or "wounded." I prefer to describe how the monster is moving about (is he breathing heavily, are there any visible marks from the battle, is he moving more slowly than before (without adjusting his actual speed)). When the attack hits that lowers him below 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 HP and critical (enough that any normal attack would likely be a killing blow) lands is when I describe something else happening. At 3/4 it might be something like his skin is starting to discolor (bruise), or his armor has a slight tear in it. At 1/4 it would be more like blood is steadily dripping from his torso, he is visibly breathing much harder than before and anger (or maybe fear depending on the situation/character) can be seen in his eyes.
When I started running out of ways to describe , a friend actually gave me this chart. I have no idea who originally created it, but I'll share it here as it helps describe effects from different types of damage:
It depends- at the table, if the combats been moving fast, I'll give them a quick report at intervals- he's barely hurt, he's starting to bleed from various wounds, he's wrecked. I'll be more descriptive when the players have been moving more strategically and thoughtful.
R20, I let them see the health bar, but no numbers. I still give them updates on how the baddie looks at the intervals, but the health bar speeds decision making up quite a bit.
I weave it into the narrative, basing it on how Matt Mercer does on CR. "It's looking beat up but shrugs it off" down to "It's looking pretty rough". Specific questions are answered as above--"Bleeding profusely" "You can see the bone where it was hit in the chest" and so on.
I save the "looking pretty rough" when there I anticipate only a round or two are left in the poor helpless creature.
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I've never told my players how many HP an opponent has left in battle, and though we use Roll20 I also turn off the red health bars for HP. It also bugs me a LOT when players tell each other how many HP they have left during a battle.
So lately I've started using a descriptive scale based on how hospitals classify patients. During combat I'll let the players know how their opponents appear using that descriptive scale, and they can choose their actions/targets accordingly, without having too much info. Since we use Roll20 I can also tag opponent tokens with colours, if I feel like it, corresponding to each level.
LEVELS OF INJURY CONDITION
You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
I feel the same way about sharing HP -- I don't tell them the monsters HP ever, and before we began playing our first session I asked my group not to directly share HP as I didn't like the concept, though I don't really enforce it (they do from time to time, I usually don't say anything unless it happens a little too often). I too play on Roll20 and we use the health bars for the players so that they can "see" how healthy each other are without the raw numbers, but they can't with the opponents (they can however ask at any time how an opponent looks and I'll give what I feel is a pretty good description so they can guess as to his state vs 100%). To me that kind of seems odd/unfair so I might change it and show the health bar for everyone, but it will be up for discussion between us.
The problem is using a specific scale like this, I feel like describing the monsters gets tiresome/super repetitive during combat. If I used a scale like this (which I tried for a bit), and gave it to my players I'd feel obligated to stick to it, and suddenly every monster is "bloodied" or "wounded." I prefer to describe how the monster is moving about (is he breathing heavily, are there any visible marks from the battle, is he moving more slowly than before (without adjusting his actual speed)). When the attack hits that lowers him below 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 HP and critical (enough that any normal attack would likely be a killing blow) lands is when I describe something else happening. At 3/4 it might be something like his skin is starting to discolor (bruise), or his armor has a slight tear in it. At 1/4 it would be more like blood is steadily dripping from his torso, he is visibly breathing much harder than before and anger (or maybe fear depending on the situation/character) can be seen in his eyes.
When I started running out of ways to describe , a friend actually gave me this chart. I have no idea who originally created it, but I'll share it here as it helps describe effects from different types of damage:
How do you get a one-armed goblin out of a tree?
Wave!
It depends- at the table, if the combats been moving fast, I'll give them a quick report at intervals- he's barely hurt, he's starting to bleed from various wounds, he's wrecked. I'll be more descriptive when the players have been moving more strategically and thoughtful.
R20, I let them see the health bar, but no numbers. I still give them updates on how the baddie looks at the intervals, but the health bar speeds decision making up quite a bit.
I weave it into the narrative, basing it on how Matt Mercer does on CR. "It's looking beat up but shrugs it off" down to "It's looking pretty rough". Specific questions are answered as above--"Bleeding profusely" "You can see the bone where it was hit in the chest" and so on.
I save the "looking pretty rough" when there I anticipate only a round or two are left in the poor helpless creature.